Float On
by Darkest-Hearts
Summary: For Pixiella's Back to School contest. Phil isn't very happy about starting the second  grade, or the fact that Mike won't stop following him around. And what's with the balloon? Song title by Modest Mouse.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I did this for Pixiella's back to school story contest. This is about Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) and Mike Mizanin (The Miz). it's obviously based at an earlier time, and it's AU, seeing as Orton's old enough to be their teacher and all of the wrestlers are in the same place.**

Phil sat on the swing, his hands holding on to the chains tightly, not moving, and just sitting in the uncomfortable leather seat. He was staring at his feet, they couldn't quite reach the ground. He'd had a hard time trying to get on to the swing as it was taller than he was, almost falling twice.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see Mike. He was dressed as if he were headed to church, rather than the first day of the second grade. His hair was slicked back, he wore a white button-up shirt, black slacks, dress shoes and a **tie** that was a vibrant mix of blue and orange."Phil!" He shrieked excitedly, "You're never gonna guess what I got!"

"What?" The boy glared at Mike. He wasn't too fond of the other boy, and disliked the idea of even taking to him most of the time.

You've got to come see it!" He whined.

"Fine," Phil sighed, "but it better not be like last year with your 'amazing invention' that turned out to be your new pet **caterpillar** with a top hat and mustache drawn on the jar." He hopped down from the swing, making his shoes nearly fall off. They were too large and not tied very well, as Phil didn't know how to **tie** them very tightly.

Mike rolled his eyes, "He was fancy, duh! He was the mayor of Ant Town."

He raised an eyebrow, "Didn't the mayor of Ant Town get carried off by an 'angry mob'?" Mike fell silent and nodded with a saddened look on his face. Phil noticed and quickly changed the subject, "So, where is this awesome thing?"

"It's on the way to school." Mike grinned, "We can get there faster if we go that way!"

"Okay."

"Awesome!" Mike grabbed Phil's hand and started running.

"Ow!" Phil followed, "You're gonna tear my arm off!"

"I won't!" He continued running.

"Yes, you will! Then I'm going to bleed to death out here and no one's going to find my body for days, and vultures are going to eat me, and it will all be your fault! Then you're going to be sad because you killed me and you're going to get put in jail."

"Fine," Mike stretched the word out and let go, "but don't be so slow."

"I'm not slow!" Phil whined.

"Yes you are." Mike groaned.

Phil shot the other boy a glare as he started to run off. Phil ran after him, trying to keep up, when finally, Mike brought him to a small, fenced area, Mike unlocked the fence and slipped inside, "You have to stay out here."

Phil nodded and waited for the boy to return. He came back nearly a minute later holding something. Phil's gaze followed the object, looking up. It was a bright yellow balloon. "His name is Gabe."

"You wanted to show me a balloon?" Phil asked.

"I'm going to make you a deal, you can have him for the entire day, not for keeps, okay?" Mike said in a serious tone.

The boy nodded. Mike tied the balloon around Phil's wrist. He could tie things much better than Phil could. "Promise you'll take good care of Gabe?"

"I promise."

"Pinkie promise?"

Phil held out his pinkie and Mike joined it with his. "You've got to swear to keep your pinkie promise or you'll die." Mike said seriously.

Phil blinked, "What?"

"People who don't keep their pinkie promises die!" He said in a now very concerned tone.

"All right." Phil said lowly.

"Good!" The boy grinned.

He led Phil to the school, though they both knew the way. He wanted to make sure that Phil wasn't in some evil plot to destroy Gabe, though, he was pretty sure he wasn't. He had pinkie promised after all, and that was a life or death situation.

Most of the day went by pretty fast and recess was upon them. Mike followed Phil around the entire time. John approached Mike, "Mike!"

He turned around, "Oh, hey, John."

"Why are you hanging out with Phil? We're best friends, remember?"

"Um, well," Mike bit his lip, "I don't exactly know how to tell you this..."

"Tell me what?"

"Oh, spit it out, Mike." Phil huffed, "He's bound to know sooner or later."

"Phil's my best friend for the day." Mike said uneasily.

"What?" John whined, "But you're my best friend for every day!"

"I know." Mike sighed, "I'm sorry, but it's just for one day. I promise, we'll be best friends every day after this. Well, except tomorrow, because I promised Maria I'd be her best friend tomorrow."

John's face went from shock to horror, "But she's a girl!"

"I know," Mike blinked, "she paid me in bubble gum. Two packs."

"You've changed, man." He said in a low tone before walking off.

The bell rang and Mike and Phil rushed inside, trying to get to the class quickly. When they were tardy, their teacher didn't seem to like it. "We've got to get there quick, Mr. Orton doesn't seem too happy today." Mike worried.

"When is Mr. Orton happy?" Phil groaned, "He's always so mean."

They sat in their desks, Maria behind Mike. She whispered to him, "You're still gonna be my friend tomorrow, right?"

Mike nodded, "Of course, I pinkie promised."

She smiled and sat back in her seat, waving to Phil. He rolled his eyes, leaning close to Mike, "Why are Maria and Beth always waving at _me_?"

"They're girls. They're gross, and they have cooties, and they're planning to trap you and eat your soul."

"I worry about you." Phil blinked.

"We'll be starting off after lunch with **history**," Orton said blandly, "who knows who George Washington is?" Mike raised his hand, flailing his arm about. "Mike, do you have an answer?"

"He invented peanut butter and time travel!" He grinned.

Orton blinked, "Not exactly. Good guess, though."

Evan raised his hand, "Ah, Evan." Orton said. "What do you have?"

"He was the first president of the United States of America, and the leader of the conti- conti-" He struggled to say the word, "Con...ti...nen...tal...army. "

Orton smiled, "Very good."

Miz crossed his arms, "Know it all. How are we supposed to know about some old, dead guy?"

Maria leaned up a little and said to Mike, "You look really nice today."

"Thanks!" Mike said quietly.

"Your tie looks like a retarded rainbow." Phil mumbled, playing with the string attached to his arm. The balloon bounced a little in the air.

"Ahem," Orton looked up, "Phillip, I don't mind if you have the balloon in here, but please don't be distracting."

"Sorry, Mr. Orton." He said quietly, lost in his own mind. He stared at the string, it was bright yellow, just like the balloon. Mike and Maria whispered back and forth, but Phil couldn't understand much of it.

"I thought you said she was going to steal your soul." Phil grumbled quietly to Mike.

"Maria's cool." He whispered back. "Plus, she thinks I look good."

Phil rolled his eyes. The day went by fast and Phil and Mike decided to walk home together.

Mike had a death grip on his friend's hand, leading him back to the house with the fenced area. "Can you stay and play a **board game **with me?" He asked.

"I've got to get home." Phil frowned.

"Aw," Mike pouted, "well, can I at least have Gabe? You can have him back the day after tomorrow."

"Yeah." Phil said. Mike untied it from his arm and grabbed the balloon.

"Hey, Phil?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we be best friends every day? well, except for tomorrow when I'm Maria's best friend."

"Of course." Phil smiled.

**A/N: Hope you liked it! I know it ended a bit weird, and after the competition, it's probably going to turn into a short story, instead of just a one shot.**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Second chapter, yay!

Chapter Two

Phil waited for Mike at the park that morning, surprised by his own enthusiasm when the boy approached. Mike was dressed nicely again, slicked back hair, buttoned shirt, black tie, slacks and dress shoes that seemed half a size too big. "Morning!" Mike squeaked.

"Good morn-" Phil started before the other boy latched on to him, making Phil let out a large squeak.

Mike giggled, "You sound like a kitty!"

Phil glared and Mike let go. "I've never heard a cat squeak in pain and fear."

"It's a happy squeak!" He grinned, "Kitties love making that noise when I hug them."

"Yeah.." Phil blinked, "what's today?"

"Tuesday!" Mike answered, chipper. "Tuesday is my favorite day, because…because, um…" He though for a second.

"Because it's the day after Monday?" Phil offered. The other boy nodded furiously and giggled. "Where's Gabe?"

"He's at home, he needed a nap."

"The balloon needed a nap?"

"Yeah, plus he didn't want to have to stick around with Maria, and he's on a secret mission." Mike whispered.

"Secret mission?" Phil raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah," his voice got lower, "my mom said when I lose my teeth, the tooth faerie gives me money. So, he's protecting my tooth." He grinned, showing one of his missing front teeth.

"You're weird."

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" Mike frowned.

Phil bit his lip, "In a good way."

"Yay!" The boy hugged his friend again.

"Ack! Come on, we've got to get to school."

"Okay." Mike sighed, grabbing his friend's hand and walking as fast as he could.

"Ow, Mike!" Phil walked faster.

He tugged him most of the way to school, ending up the lasts ones to their cubbies. They put up their backpacks and rushed into the classroom.

Mike sat next to Phil, Maria behind him, "So, you're my best friend today, right?" Maria grinned.

"Yeah." Mike said.

"Okay, because me and Beth are going to play dolls together at recess, and we really want you to play."

Phil snickered and Mike blinked, "Can't we play trucks?"

"But Beth has Barbies, they're the funnest ones." Maria whined.

"Okay, can we play dolls and trucks?"

"Sure, but only because Barbie doesn't have a car, so she can drive trucks."

"Fine." Mike agreed, slumping in his chair a little. Maria sat back in her seat happily.

Orton spoke in a low, dull voice about how for science they were going to study animals, letting each of them choose their animals, Mike wiggling in his seat, whispering to himself, "Don't pick mine, don't pick mine."

"Phillip?" He asked.

"Um, tigers?" He shrugged, mumbling, "They're pretty cool."

Orton called names, people claiming their animal they were going to read and report about, finally getting to Mike.

"Michael?"

"Giraffes!" He jumped with excitement.

"Giraffes?" Phil asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" He grinned back to his friend, "They're scary monsters that eat people and burn entire villages with their powers!"

"No they don't." Phil blinked.

"Yeah, they do!"

"Maybe on your planet."

"My planet?"

"Planet Crazy."

"Phillip," Orton said in a serious tone, "don't call your classmates crazy."

Phil sighed and crossed his arms. "Sorry."

The class went by slowly before recess, and Mike wandered off to play with Beth and Maria. John approached Phil.

"So, you stole my friend." John glared.

"Sorry?" Phil shrugged.

"He was MY friend!" John shrieked.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Sure you didn't." John sniffled.

In the background, he could faintly hear Maria's familiar voice, "Mike, stop making Barbie kick people!"

"She's super action Barbie with her powerful kick and man-eating truck!"

"Mike! Don't run her over!" Beth growled, "I just combed her hair!"

Phil looked back to John, "I…I…"

"Never mind." He huffed, "I'll just hang out with Evan. He's cool." John stormed off, leaving Phil to listen to the aftermath of Mike's game.

"Barbie does not have a super kick power!" Beth spat.

"Of course she does!" Mike argued, "She and her truck are the evil duo of awesome."

"Barbie's not evil." Maria cut in.

Phil sighed and walked over, head hung low in shame, "Hey, um…can I play?"

Maria looked up at him, "You want to play dolls?"

"Um, yes." Phil nodded.

Beth handed him a blonde Barbie, sporting an interesting mix of a McDonald's uniform and a tutu. Phil sat next to Mike and moved her across the ground, "Hi, I'm Phil."

"Your Barbie's name is Phil?" Beth arched her eyebrows.

"Hi, I'm…Philerina." He corrected.

"I'm going to destroy you!" Mike threw his doll at Phil's hand.

Phil pulled his hand back, "OW! That hurt!"

"Mission accomplished!"

Phil sighed and the bell rang for them to go back in. He got up and so did the girls and Mike. They walked back to class together, mostly silent.

"Hey." Mike whispered to Phil once they got back inside.

"What?" Phil asked.

"Want to stay over at my house this weekend? Me and John used to have sleepovers, and he doesn't want to come."

"If it's okay with my parents." He shrugged lightly.

"Okay." Mike grinned widely.

The rest of the day was relatively slow, when it was time to go home, Mike and Phil walked together holding hands.

Mike let Phil have Gabe again, promising to trade off the next day.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Mike tied the string to Phil's wrist before hugging him.

Phil squirmed, "Yeah, see you tomorrow. Er, let go, I can't breathe."

The boy let go, "Sorry for attacking your hand earlier."

"It's okay." Phil gave a weak smile, "I'm just glad I didn't have to be Philerina for long."

"Yep!" Mike bounced happily.

"Goodbye." The other boy smiled.

"You're my best friend." Mike smiled.

Phil grinned, "You're mine, too."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: To explain a conversation in this story, it's based in Montana. :)

Mike approached the park happily, looking for his friend, "Phil?" He called. There was no reply, "Phiiil?" Phillip approached the park, head low and face stained with tears. "Phil?" Mike blinked.

"I'm sorry." Phil sniffled.

"What are you sorry for?" Mike cocked his head.

"Um, well, Gabe..." He unzipped his bag, reaching in and retrieving a bit of deflated rubber. He handed it to Mike, the string hanging loosely from the limp balloon.

"You killed him!" Mike shrieked.

"I didn't mean to! I woke and he was like that." Phil's eyes lowered back o the ground.

"How could you?" His friend gasped.

"I'm really sorry," the boy whined, "I didn't mean to."

Mike stood in disbelief, staring at the lifeless body of his balloon. He gripped it tightly with his small hand and shoved it into his bag. "You're not coming to he funeral." He said seriously, an angered tone in his voice.

"He was my friend, too." Phil snapped.

"You should have thought about that before you killed him!" Mike grimaced, running from the other boy.

"Mike, wait!" Phil chased him. He followed him half way to the school running, but gave up and walked, defeated. When he reached the school and his classroom, he sat next to Mike, who gave a huff and looked away from the boy. "I'm really sorry." Phil whispered.

"I still blame you." Mike growled.

"I miss Gabe." Phil sniffled.

Mike felt bad for him, for a moment. Phil had betrayed him, but for some reason, a part of him wanted to forgive his friend. "Phil?"

"Yeah?" Phil was holding back tears now.

"Did you kill Gabe?" His friend asked sympathetically.

"No." He mumbled sadly.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you. You can come to the funeral later."

"Okay. Thank you, Mike."

"We're still friends, right?"

"Of course." Phil looked at him seriously.

Mike smiled lightly. His friend smiled back, and Orton began his lesson. "We're going to the library so you can each pick out a book about the animal you're going to write about." A boy in the back raised his hand, and waving it so hard he almost fell out of his seat, "No, Zack, for the last time, you can't write about unicorns."

"Aw, man!" He sunk back in his desk chair, crossing his arms.

"Come on, class." Orton stood up and ordered the children into a line before leading them across the hall to the library. "Please find books about your animals, check them out, and report back to me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask mister McIntyre."

Mike and Phil approached the desk at the back of the library and mister McIntyre looked up, "Yes?"

"I'm looking for a book on blood-thirsty giraffes." Mike smiled innocently.

"Er...I just want one on tigers. Normal tigers." Phil blinked.

"Right this way." McIntyre sighed, getting up from his seat and leading the boys to a corner of shelves labeled "animals".

"You have an accent, are you from Canada?" Mike asked.

"No, actually, I'm from-" Mister McIntyre started.

"One year, for vacation we went to Canada and it took like thirty hours!" Mike blinked.

"Actually, Canada's only four hours from here." McIntyre corrected.

"It was like sixty days!"

"You just said forty hours."

"Ten months of no food and water in the car up to Canada! Over seas!" Mike flailed his arms.

McIntyre sighed, "Michael-"

"I swear, it took five years!" He blinked, stretching out his arms to indicate the time gap.

"You're seven," Phil looked at him, "and we were in Kindergarten together."

"I've only been out of that car for four years of my entire life." Mike said seriously.

Mister McIntyre took a deep breath, "Do you need anything else?"

"Yeah, um," Mike pulled a book off of the shelf, "Miss McIntyre, you've got bad books."

The man rolled his eyes, "Bad?"

"They're not right." Mike pointed out, showing the cover of the book, a photo giraffe delicately grazing from leaves in a treetop was on the cover. "Giraffes don't do that. They eat people and burn down villages."

McIntyre shut his eyes, "You're saying that these books are inaccurate because the giraffes aren't eating...people?"

"Yes, Miss McIntyre." Mike said.

"MISTER McIntyre." He corrected.

"You're not a very good library lady if the books have the wrong pictures." Mike said seriously. Mister McIntyre was red by this point, huffing and walking toward his desk. He sat down and gripped the corners of the desk.

"Mister McIntyre?" Orton approached him.

"Mike...book...child...irritating...giraffes!" He could barely get the words out in rage.

"I know how you feel." Orton said sympathetically.

"How do you put up with him?" Miser McIntyre blinked.

"I go home, and I watch 'Jaws'." Orton said.

Mike and Phil approached the desk, setting their books down. "Even if these books are wrong, maybe some of the stuff is right." Mike smiled. Drew McIntyre silently scanned the books and handed them back to the boys.

The children and Orton made it back to the classroom after twenty minutes. They started writing their papers about the animals. Phil glanced over at Mike who was forcing the pencil into the paper so hard it was crumbling. He whispered, "Pew, pew, rawr, grrrrr" and similar things.

The students finished just before the recess bell. "I'll have your paper's graded by the time you get back." Orton smiled. The children ran out excitedly.

Mike and Phil wandered to one of the farthest corners of the playground, near the school's old play equipment which had been left up, even as the new equipment was built. Mike climbed up the equipment and sat on the edge of it, beside the slide. Phil followed and sat next to him. They talked and played tag for a short while before they were bored of it. The bell sounded and they hurried back inside, somewhat eager for the results of their reports.

Mister Orton didn't seem pleased. As he walked around the class room, he stood in front of the desks and told the children how they did. He handed Phil his paper, "You did very well, Phillip. Thank you for putting forth effort." He said somewhat blandly. He walked past him to give Zack his paper back, "Zack, I asked you not to write about unicorns. That included comparing unicorns to your animal."

"But unicorns are so much cooler than penguins!" Zack protested.

Orton rolled his eyes, "At least you discussed your animal." He walked back to Mike, handing him a paper, and looking very unhappy. "Your information was incorrect and inappropriate. The drawings added were disturbing, to say the least. Michael, I'm going to call your mother about your paper. This is unacceptable, and I know you can do better."

Phil leaned over to see half of a page of writing, and under it drawings of giraffes breathing fire on cities, holding guns, shooting stick figures, and eating their bodies. There were blobs on the ground, being licked up by some of the giraffes, with an arrow pointing to the strange puddle-like drawings labeled "souls".

Mike and Phil walked home together, stopping at the park. They dug up a little bit of the ground with their hands and placed the balloon in a small hole, burying it. Mike sniffled, "Gabe, you were a good balloon, and a good friend." Phil nodded in agreement, also sniffling and holding back tears.

"I promise I'll always remember you, Gabe." Phil cried. They collected small flowers, weeds, and tall grasses from the park, placing them on top of the balloon grave.

"We'll always be friends." Mike said to the buried balloon, before both boys got up and walked home.

A/N: As a side note: burying balloons is bad for the earth. I do not support it. Thank you. :) No balloons were harmed in the writing of this fanfiction.


	4. Chapter 4

Phil and Mike walked to school that morning watching a boy drag his younger brother by the hand. "Come on, Jeff!" The older boy exclaimed as the younger tried to stop on the sidewalk.

"I don't want to go to school!" The younger boy whined, he looked about a year or two younger than Mike or Phil.

"We have to!" The older boy managed to get his brother to cooperate and they continued on their way.

"Hey, Phil?" Mike looked to his friend.

"Yeah?" The other boy asked.

"I promised Zack that I'd be his best friend for the day, and that he could hang out with us at recess." He said quietly.

"Zack? Really?" Phil asked.

"He's nice. Plus, he gave me candy." Mike smiled.

"Okay." Phil said, somewhat sourly.

"So, you can still come to my sleep over, right?"

"Yeah." Phil smiled.

"Good! It would be a lot more fun with you. Last time Zack and John were over, and Zack kept talking about unicorns and John kept putting my turtle in his pocket so he could steal it." Mike sighed.

"John tried to steal your turtle?" Phil blinked.

"Yeah, his mom won't let him have one so he kept trying to steal mine."

"Uh," Phil stood silent for a second, "wow?"

"Yeah." Mike shook his head, the two of them continuing on their way to school. They arrived, taking their normal seats.

The class started and Orton passed out a work sheet. "We'll be starting with math today," he set a paper on Mike's desk, then Phil's, "please take your time, we have twenty-five minutes to finish the five problems."

Phil struggled on the worksheet, biting his lip and studying the numbers. He heaved a sigh and figured out the first two. He leaned over to Mike to see he had drawn a chicken for one of the answers, "Um, Mike?"

"Yeah?" Mike looked up, almost finished.

"Why is there a chicken?" The boy asked.

"Because, two minus two is zero, and zeroes come from chickens. It's science." He explained, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"We're doing math." Phil raised an eyebrow.

"That's why I'll get an even better grade."

"Uh, right." Phil went back to writing. They finished their assignments and Orton collected them.

The boys sat back in their desks, Maria leaning up behind Mike, "Hey."

"Hey." Mike grinned, whispering back. Maria whispered something quietly to Mike and he burst out into giggles.

"What?" Phil glared at his friend.

"Nothing," Mike tried to hide his giggle, "I can't tell you."

"Tell me." Phil demanded.

Mike snickered, placing his head down on his desk, "I can't."

Phil rolled his eyes and sighed, "Whatever, I don't want to know your stupid girly secrets anyway." He crossed his arms.

When the bell rang for recess, the boys were accompanied by Zack, who clutched a stuffed toy unicorn. "So, what does your unicorn do?" Mike asked eagerly.

"Erm, well, her name is Muffins, and she makes things better by being kind." Zack smiled lightly.

"Does she have super-kick? Barbies have super-kick." Mike blinked.

"No they don't, throwing dolls at people isn't a 'super-kick'." Phil muttered, but his friend ignored him.

"No, she doesn't hurt people. She can heal them with her magical horn, though." The boy smiled, stroking the toy animal's fluffy mane.

"Can she stab people with the pointy thing?" Mike asked.

"N-no." Zack stuttered, clutching his toy closer.

"Can I pet her?" Phil asked, trying to keep Zack from being upset.

"Sure." The blonde boy smiled, holding out the plushie as Phil stroked it's rough carpet-like fur. Mike took this opportunity to snatch the toy from Zack's hands, running, making Zack shriek and chase after him, "Give Muffins back!"

"Fly!" Mike shouted, tossing the toy into the air. It fell into the dirt, Zack now running to his toy. Phil followed him, trying to comfort the boy.

"Muffins!" Zack sobbed, scooping up the unicorn, and brushing dirt out of it's fur, "You got her dirty!" He sobbed loudly.

"It's okay, Zack." Phil huffed, catching up to him.

"You're mean!" Zack glared at Mike, tears streaming down his face. The boy ran off clutching Muffins.

"Why did you steal his unicorn?" Phil asked.

"I was trying to help it by making it cooler." Mike rolled his eyes, "Duh. He shouldn't be so sad. I made it so it could fly."

"You also threw it into the dirt and made him cry."

"It's the price that had to be paid for awesomeness."

"That still wasn't very nice." Phil sighed.

"He'll forgive me. He always does." Mike said quietly.

The bell rang and the boys filed back into the classroom. Mike walked over to Zack as they were coming in, "I'm sorry for throwing Muffins."

"It's okay." Zack said. "She's okay."

"Next time, maybe she should learn to be cooler." Mike said.

Zack rolled his eyes, "Yeah." Mike walked to his desk next to Phil and sat down. The rest of the day slipped by relatively fast and, as usual, the friends walked home together.

They watched the same two boys who had bickering that morning walk home, the younger one holding his brother's hand, "Maaatt," he stretched out the name, "I'm tired, and hungry."

Phil and Mike stopped by Gabe's grave before heading home, to place dandelions on the recently dug-up soil. The boys said a quiet word, and went their separate ways for the evening.

**A/N: No unicorns were harmed in the writing of this fanfic. Also, Maria's secret will come up later in the story, but that's all I can tell you for now. :P**


End file.
